It’s hard to see who benefits from the European Commission’s (EC) latest attack on Meta. Certainly not consumers.

In mid-December 2022, the EC informed Meta of the commission’s “preliminary view that the company breached EU antitrust rules by distorting competition in the markets for online classified ads.” If the EC finds Meta guilty, Meta can be fined up to 10 percent of its annual global revenue.

The EC’s Statement of Objections is the latest step in the investigation it launched in June 2021. This step informs Meta in writing of the EC’s objections, to which Meta can reply after examining the EC’s investigation file.

I am not privy to the EC’s files, but the commission’s public statements leave me with doubts about the case.

Read Dr. Jamison’s complete blog post at AEI.